If you are mass producing “thought leadership,” you are missing the point

The term “thought leadership” has become so commonly used – to apply to so many different things – that it has lost a lot of its meaning and authority. Some people believe that reposting an article on LI with a one-sentence comment counts as thought leadership. Or that articles or presentations written primarily by AI and published in mass quantities to drive leads and SEO should be called thought leadership.

I disagree.

Too often today, thought leadership is conflated with “content marketing” and even PR. While all of these content categories have their value, you and your firm can only benefit from the unique nature of thought leadership (also known as “TL”) by understanding and executing it correctly.

The purpose of thought leadership is to show the substance of a company – and an individual. It provokes thought as well as providing it, disrupting patterns of thinking and demonstrating a real immersion in the subject at hand. More than anything, it gives clients and prospects a window onto what it will be like to work with this organization or expert.

A thought leader has something to say that has little to do with selling – and while their work may have the indirect goal of promoting a company or product, their words and ideas have intrinsic value that rises above the commercial.

A word-by-word approach

“Thought leadership” should be grounded in the two words of that phrase, which is repeated so often that we may not even think about its promises or implications.

Thought requires more than copy-and-pasting from different sources, or simply echoing the ideas delivered by a Google search. Through hands-on work, conversations at conferences and with colleagues, continuous research, and reflection, the thought leader comes to a point of view about a highly relevant subject – integrated marketing, cybersecurity, the future of energy, or something else.

They share those insights in a variety of ways: conference presentations, articles in journals, white papers, LinkedIn live sessions – and, yes, blog posts. Their ideas are offered without strings attached, showing clients and prospects the intelligence that they get when they work with the thought leader’s company.

Leadership should be viewed as a challenge, and a complex one. To be really valuable to their firm, and elevate their personal brand, the thought leader needs to do more than repeat the ideas everyone else is already saying. That is following, not leading.

I know nothing about solar wind farms – but if you were to say that these farms hold great promise as future sources of energy, I would say that you have not broken any new ground. You are not a thought leader. On the other hand, if you have a novel idea about how wind farms should be arranged, or how their energy should be used in combination with electricity from other sources, then I think you might be onto something.

Inherent innovation

To anyone immersed in a particular field, true thought leadership should have intrinsic interest, because it breaks new ground – even in small measures – and points the way to innovation. If something presented as thought leadership has the reader starting to nod off after just one or two sentences, then nothing new is being said, and no leadership is being provided.

According to my definition, thought leadership is not a simple thing. For companies that want to promote their potential thought leaders, it requires a commitment to doing more than selling. If your manager has no patience for anything that does not deliver revenue directly, it is unlikely that thought leadership will be supported. This does not mean that the thought leader needs to be nestled in an ivory tower, thinking big thoughts all day long; most will have worldly responsibilities – like sales quotas and other goals – and will probably need to keep thought leadership as a “side hustle.”     

My point of view also requires tha we treat the phrase thought leadership with greater care and respect. When an intern writes a blog post about company participation in a local charity race, we can applaud – but we should not call them thought leaders.

A little help from … 

Of course, thought leaders can still get help along the way. Gen AI can be an excellent source of core research and help expand or polish texts. And firms like The Marketing Solver can help create and guide thought leadership programs to make them more impactful and less of a burden. 

But the core of thought leadership needs to be innovative ideas generated by people who have given deep thought to what they do – experts who can bring that knowledge and disruptive spirit to client projects, industry presentations, and more. If you do not have a thought leader behind your “thought leadership,” then that knowledge cannot be activated in practical terms – and has little real value to the company.

In a deeper sense, this approach is about how we view our work. Maybe a series of SEO-focused blog posts will deliver prospects to your door – but will you have the goods to deliver on that “next step” in the conversation?  If a prospect in a meeting asks a followup question about the blog post you just published, will there be someone who can pick up the thread and really bring those ideas to bear on the project at hand?

Quality over everything

The truth is that, as competition has grown and digital platforms have multiplied, the need to be talking everywhere on a 24/7 basis has become almost inescapable for companies large and small. As a result, brands and individuals have dialed back quality in the pursuit of quantity – just to be sure that their social posts or press releases or blog posts are the last thing the client sees before he or she goes to sleep at night. 

This is largely a top-of-funnel focus – get their attention, rise in the SEO rankings, and be noticed. But what happens when the client or prospect scratches the surface? Will there be any substance to share, or innovative ideas to set you apart?     

By thinking clearly about what thought leadership is and should be, and asking more of ourselves than simply parroting received ideas in the hope of catching someone’s attention, companies have the potential to really stand out – to provoke thought, conversation, and fresh ideas. 

And that, I would say, is the essence of smart marketing. 

David Stanton is CEO of The Marketing Solver and a 20-year veteran of marketing and communications. Connect with him at dstanton207med@gmail.com.

The thinker & the doer

In today’s world, staying “lean and mean” is the order of the day for B2B marketing teams. Even companies that are thriving are, at best, holding marketing budgets steady — or, more likely, making cuts by leveraging AI, automation, and other digital resources.

According to a 2024 Gartner survey of CMOs, marketing budgets now account for 7.7% of total revenue at the average firm, compared to 9% in 2023 — and 11% in the years before the pandemic. 

Stepping in to fill many shoes in this era of consolidation are “fractional” leaders — CMOs, creative chiefs, and other “freelance” department heads who bring needed expertise and guidance, but often work 20 or even fewer hours a week. They usually do not earn benefits but help deliver (or should) some of the focus and consistency that on-staff leaders would. 

But to be a marketing leader — fractional or on-staff — in today’s environment, it is not enough to say “I just do strategy.” It’s true that CMOs need to focus on the big picture — continually aligning marketing strategy to brand and product goals and synching up all of the department’s many activities. 

But because teams are thin and budgets tight, marketing heads also need to be able to switch gears, roll up their sleeves, and get stuff done. It is popular these days to say “multitasking is impossible” — but today’s marketing leaders need to find a way to make multitasking a way of life; otherwise, they will be letting precious opportunities fall thru the cracks.

What could and should a marketing leader do? Here are some thoughts:

• Talk to CMOs at your top three clients to find out their marketing plans for the rest of the year — and how your companies can partner.

• Help your COO or CTO prepare for a LinkedIn live interview on the ways that AI is helping your company raise its game.

• Develop a survey for clients on how they would like to see your company improve customer service in 2025.

• Host a podcast series on ways that your company is helping employees develop their personal brands. 

• Hold lunch meetings with the sales team to develop new techniques for making your conference booth truly irresistible and impactful.

Does it sound like a lot? In a world of shrinking marketing budgets and teams, “a lot” is the new “just about enough.” The marketing leader cannot afford to be a behind-the-scenes player exclusively, presenting to leadership and tweaking the same planning deck from quarter to quarter. If you are not visible and seeing the sun (physical or metaphorical) shine on your head every day, you are missing too many opportunities and letting your company down.

The truth is that the marketing leader has unique power in the organization to straddle departments and reach out to other C-suite leaders for … whatever might seem like a good idea! Making things happen and driving innovation is always the marketer’s purview — and if it isn’t, something is broken and needs to be fixed.

Is this a call to become a Superman? Maybe — and maybe that is what is needed. It’s not about keeping your job; it’s about making sure your company has what it needs to thrive in a truly tough marketplace.

If that is not the CMO’s mission, what is?